The present invention relates to a cleaning device cleaning a surface of an image bearing member in an image forming apparatus such as a printer, a copying machine, a facsimile or the like and an image forming apparatus provided with the same.
A cleaning blade is known as a cleaning member for cleaning an image bearing member in an image forming apparatus such as a printer, a copying machine, a facsimile or the like.
For example, in an image forming apparatus of an electrophotographic type, a toner image is formed on a photosensitive drum (image bearing member) through image forming processes including a charging process, an exposure process and a developing process, and the toner image is transferred onto a recording material (paper, for example) from a photosensitive drum by a transfer process. In the transfer process, the toner constituting the toner image on the photosensitive drum is not entirely transferred onto the recording material, but a small amount of the toner remains on the surface of the photosensitive drum. The toner remaining on the surface of photosensitive drum (residual toner) is removed from the surface of photosensitive drum by the cleaning blade.
As shown in FIG. 6, an edge 61a of a cleaning blade 61 is contacted to the surface of the photosensitive drum 11, by which the residual toner deposited on the surface of the photosensitive drum 11 is scraped off the drum surface.
However, the conventional example involves the following problems.
As shown in FIG. 6, in the neighborhood of the edge 61a of the cleaning blade 61 contacted to the photosensitive drum 11, the residual toner scraped off the surface of the photosensitive drum 11 is accumulated. Normally, the accumulated residual toner falls into a cleaner container (unshown) of the cleaning device when the residual toner becomes large to a certain extent.
However, since the recent demand for the high-speed operation of the image forming apparatus results in an increased peripheral speed (process speed) of the photosensitive drum 11, the amount of residual toner does not decrease but increases, depending on the ambient conditions, and the residual toner may pass through the nip N formed between the edge 61a of the cleaning blade 61 and a surface of the photosensitive drum 11. The problem with this is that residual toner having passed through the nip is transferred onto the recording material (sheet material) in the next image forming process with result of stripes being produced on the resultant image.
As for a means for improving the cleaning property of the cleaning blade, Japanese Laid-open Patent Application Hei 6-4014 and Japanese Laid-open Patent Application Hei. 11-174922 propose imparting vibration to the cleaning blade using a piezoelectric element. The piezoelectric element is mounted on the cleaning blade. The cleaning blade deteriorates with use, and therefore, the piezoelectric element is replaced when the cleaning blade is replaced. This increases the cost. Additionally, it is difficult to impart such a vibration as is sufficient to remove the residual toner. A method as proposed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Hei. 9-160455 in which the cleaning blade is imparted with collision vibration, may create such a vibration as is enough to remove the coagulated and grown toner. However, depending on the behavior of the cleaning blade when the collision vibration is imparted, the residual toner may pass through the nip.
Accordingly, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide a cleaning device and an image forming apparatus in which coagulation of the toner is effectively prevented in the neighborhood of the cleaning member, thus properly removing the toner image from the image bearing member.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a cleaning device comprising a cleaning member, which is contactable to a moving image bearing member, to clean a surface of the image bearing member; holding means for holding said cleaning member; and vibrating means, which is vibratable, wherein said holding means is movable in a direction substantially perpendicular to a surface of the image bearing member, and wherein said vibrating means is supported by said holding means.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus comprising a movable image bearing member; image forming means for forming an image on said image bearing member; a cleaning member contacted to said image bearing member to clean a surface of said image bearing member; holding means for holding said cleaning member; and vibrating means, which is vibratable, wherein said holding means is movable in a direction substantially perpendicular to a surface of the image bearing member, and wherein said vibrating means is supported on said holding means.
These and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent upon consideration of the following description of the preferred embodiments of the present invention, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.